Eric Braeden: 'Hire People Who Understand The Characters and Know the History of Y&R'

THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS star Eric Braeden spoke with TV Guide Magazine about the recent shake-up on the show's writing team after head writer Josh Griffith resigned. When the news first broke, Braeden expressed his dismay in a response to a fan on Twitter: "I'm very pissed off!!! Enough said!!!"

"What I really wanted to say is that I don't like change," Braeden clarified in the TV Guide interview. "We had just gotten used to this new writing-producing regime at Y&R and suddenly there's another change, and I don't like it all! It's unsettling. So, yes, it pissed me off, though I was only responding to a fan. I had no idea my tweet would stir things up.

Braeden said he was satisfied with the team of Griffith and executive producer Jill Farren Phelps.

"I speak for no one else in the cast but I, for one, can't complain," he explained. "And Josh has written some very interesting stuff for me that's coming up. And, again, our numbers are up. Hello?"

As for who will be named the next head writer, Braeden had only one request.

"I don't give a goddamn where they come from, as long as you hire people who understand the characters and know the history of Y&R. It's that simple. We've got to keep this show No. 1."

In a separate interview with Calgary Herald, Braeden said he never confused backstories or mixed up the relationships on the show.

"I don’t. The writers sometimes do. I need to remind them," he said. "People forget what dastardly things Adam has done. . . .The audience often thinks that Victor is a hard ass with his son. But look what Sharon has done. It’s extraordinary!"

Braeden has played Victor Newman on THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS since 1980.